Abp John of Donetsk (KP) wants to join canonical UOC. He said that it's his ultimate decision. He added that there no politics and he wants to solve the problem of Church in Ukraine in a canonical way.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who can watch the watchmen?"No one is paying attention to your post reports"Why do posters that claim to have me blocked keep sending me pms and responding to my posts? That makes no sense.

Abp John of Donetsk (KP) wants to join canonical UOC. He said that it's his ultimate decision. He added that there no politics and he wants to solve the problem of Church in Ukraine in a canonical way.

Wonderful! God Bless Abp. John! This is a church issue so let it be resolved by the church and the laws (Canons) of the church instead of the politicians on all sides with dubious religious attachments.

Orthodoc

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Oh Lord, Save thy people and bless thine inheritance.Grant victory to the Orthodox Christians over their adversaries.And by virtue of thy Cross preserve thy habitation.

Interesting. Wonder if this is a one-time thing, or a tip-of-the-iceberg thing. Any Ukranians wish to comment?

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"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."" Isaac Asimov

Interesting. Wonder if this is a one-time thing, or a tip-of-the-iceberg thing. Any Ukranians wish to comment?

Well, I do very sincerely hope that his new move is a reflection of his faith and an act of a mature man. In the past, Vladyka Yuriy (BTW, Mike, it's not "John" but, rather, George) astonished his colleagues - Orthodox priests and bishops - by his, to put it mildly, somewhat extravagant moves, like writing a letter to the prelate of the Assyrian (Nestorian) Church asking to accept him into their fold (here is the reply from the Assyrians, quite negative, http://www.cerkva.info/2008/11/26/lyst_Assyria.html), or participating in liturgical activities of a group that calls itself "Catholic-Traditionalist" (here is a photograph, http://www.cerkva.info/2008/12/03/Yurij_v_MP.html).

Archbishop Yuri did not merely "participate" in the liturgical activities of the sedevacantist Catholic Traditionalists, he actually converted to sedevacantist Catholicism in 2002. His conversion at that time was played up as a major triumph for the sedevacantists.

The sedevacantists (from "sede vacante" -- "vacant seat") are a small (and fragemented) group of "Traditionalist" Catholics who believe that the last true Pope was Pius XII, who died in 1958. They consider all popes since then as heretical and illegitimate, and reject Vatican II, and thus consider the See of Rome to be a "vacant seat" while continuing to believe in the infallibility of legitimate Popes. At present, the sedevacantists are themselves fragmented into various warring groups, from tiny priestless groups to larger groups that have "bishops" tracing their orders to the Roman Catholic Archbishop Pierre Ngo Dinh Thuc ("Thucites"). The CMRI -- with which Archbishop Yuri initially affiliated -- is the largest Thucite group.

Here's hoping that Moscow will be VERY careful in dealing with this man.

One wonders if His Eminence, Archbishop Yuri was looking for any way to get away from Patriarch Filaret, albeit a rather foolish and stupid way, in my opinion.

Well, it's hard to say. Back in 2001, Vl. Yuriy gave an interview to the Ukrayins'ke Pravoslav"ja newspaper where he blasted the late Patriarch Alexiy II for creating obstacles for the Ukrainian Orthodoxy "not in the ecclesiological but merely political sense" and for his (Patr. Alexij's) attempts to eliminate "our Prelate, His Holiness Patriarch Filaret" (http://www.cerkva.info/2008/12/01/podvijnij_Yurij.html). A few years later, after the US invasion in Iraq, Vl. Yuriy befriended a local Donetsk-based mogul-businessman who had business connectios with Kurdish oil people, and began to frequent social gatherings of local Donetsk-based folks of the Assyrian ancestry who had relatives in Kurdistan. He was planning a trip to Kurdistan and allegedly had plans for some sort of business venture there, but, to his dismay, that local mogul suddenly severed all ties with him (http://www.cerkva.info/2008/12/03/Yurij_v_MP.html). That triggered the letter, written by Vl. Yuriy, to K. Mardinha IV, the prelate of the Assyrian (Nestorian) church, asking to admit him in an eucharistic union with the Assyrian church and to help him with his trip to Kurdish regions of Iraq, to which the Nestorian prelate replied negatively, and sent a copy of his reply to Filaret. From that point on, the "bad blood" between Vl. Yuriy and Patr. Filaret began to boil, and finally, a year ago or so, they stopped communicating.

A sedevacantist told me that Bishop Yuriy still holds the sedevacantist opinion and that he's still "Catholic" while thinking that his mission is to remain among the Orthodox and prepare the Orthodox Church for union with Rome once a true Pope is elected, as under the present conditions without Pope and Roman hierarchy the best thing to do is to remain part of Orthodoxy.

A sedevacantist told me that Bishop Yuriy still holds the sedevacantist opinion and that he's still "Catholic" while thinking that his mission is to remain among the Orthodox and prepare the Orthodox Church for union with Rome once a true Pope is elected, as under the present conditions without Pope and Roman hierarchy the best thing to do is to remain part of Orthodoxy.